New-look Danes just fine

Rowley and Hooley start, help defeat Binghamton

Published 11:47 pm, Monday, January 7, 2013

VESTAL — There was change for the University at Albany basketball team Monday night. And, if you are coach Will Brown or anyone who plays for the Great Danes, that was a good thing.

For the first time this year, Brown did some tinkering with his starting lineup, and, in the end, the coach looked like he could work for Maytag.

Fresh off their worst beating of the season at Vermont, the Danes had a new look against Binghamton at the Events Center. Sophomore Sam Rowley, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound physical forward, and 6-4 redshirt freshman Peter Hooley were starters.

And the Danes, rumbled into the night down I-88 with a 71-59 win over the Bearcats. Granted, Binghamton (0-2, 2-13) is not the barometer teams usually measure themselves against, but, since the Bearcats came first after the 25-point loss to Vermont, they would have to do.

Brown insists he did not make the change — forward Jayson Guerrier and center Blake Metcalf, who had started the first 16 games, sat — because of what happened Saturday in Burlington.

"I thought about it two weeks ago, but we had been winning," Brown said. "You hate to change anything when you're winning."

Brown thought Rowley would give the Danes a more physical presence up front — and, oh, he did — and Hooley would give the team another solid performer on the perimeter.

Rowley answered with career highs in points (21) and rebounds (13) and Hooley added 10 points, four rebounds and five assists. Rowley's double-double was the first by a UAlbany player this year.

"It was a privilege to be able to start," said Rowley, who did it for the first time. "I thought it put a little more pressure on me. Off the bench, there isn't nearly as much pressure. You just sit on the bench and watch the guys play."

Rowley, who came into the game averaging 6.6 points per game, said he was told he would be starting on Sunday.

"Coach Brown definitely has his reasons for changing the starting lineup," junior co-captain Luke Devlin said. "It certainly worked out well for us. Sam has been playing pretty well for us all year. He gives us some power inside. Sam is one strong man."

Rowley had 11 points and nine rebounds by halftime when the Danes had a 32-21 lead. The lead got as big as 18 in the second half as UAlbany made a conscious effort to get the ball inside to Rowley, John Puk (13 points) and Devlin (12 points in 16 minutes off the bench).

Binghamton hung around early because the Bearcats made 3-point shots (6-for-15) in the first half. Taylor Johnston ended up as the top scorer for Binghamton with a career high 22 points (5-for-7 from 3-point range).

The Bearcats' game plan was to make sure that UAlbany's backcourt of Mike Black (16.0 ppg) and Jacob Iati (15.2 ppg) didn't win the game for the Danes. That worked because Black (2-for-15) and Iati (1-for-7, 1-for-6 from 3-point range) were not a factor.

"We played terrific defense on Black and Iati, which is what we set out to do," Binghamton coach Tommy Dempsey said.

"We forced their big guys to beat us, and, to their credit, they played very well."

"For us to have Black and Iati shoot a combined 3-for-22 and have us really cruise to a win says a lot about the rest of our kids in the program," Brown said.

The Danes now have four days off before playing again, against Maine on Saturday.

Brown said that Rowley and Hooley will stay in the starting lineup, maybe for a good long time.

As long as they keep playing like this, why would he make a change?

"There is no doubt about it," Brown said about the lineup staying this way. "We are moving forward with it."